1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink tank package containing therein an ink tank provided replaceably in an ink jet recording apparatus and a method of unsealing the ink tank package.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known an ink jet recording apparatus, in which an ink tank is replaceably provided. This replaceable ink tank is provided with an atmosphere communication port for providing communication between an interior of the ink tank and an atmosphere, in addition to an ink supplying port. The atmosphere communication port is sealed by a sealing member in an unused condition. It is also common practice that ink tanks are packed in packages when supplied to a market to prevent the ink tanks from being damaged during distribution processes or the like. To use an ink tank package containing therein an ink tank such as that described above, a package is first unsealed and it becomes thereafter necessary to peel off the sealing member of the atmosphere communication port. It is, however, likely that the ink tank will be loaded in the ink jet recording apparatus with the seal left attached. A technique for preventing this from occurring is proposed. Specifically, the sealing member is previously coupled to an unsealing portion of the package. This allows the sealing member to be peeled off when the package is unsealed. (Refer, for example, to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-070971(1999).)
There are, however, the following problems in the conventional art.
Specifically, assume a conventional structure in which the sealing member for sealing the atmosphere communication port of an ink supplying portion and the unsealing portion of the package are coupled together. In this structure, if the sealing member is abruptly peeled of f through an abrupt pulling action of the unsealing portion, it is likely that ink in areas near the ink supplying port will spatter to an outside from the atmosphere communication port. The ink supplying port and the atmosphere communication port are independently formed in an ordinary ink tank with sealing members provided separately at two locations. When the seal on a side of the ink supplying port is peeled off after the package has been unsealed and the atmosphere communication port has been unsealed as described above, therefore, it is again likely that ink will spatter around from the ink supplying port.